The Member Development
Charter Plus
Self-assessment template
Guidance
Produced in conjunction with the following organisations
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The Member Development Charter Plus: Self-assessment template
Member Development Charter Plus
This template aims to help councils that sign
up to aspire to the principles of the Charter
Plus for member development. It provides a
guide for self-assessment and for drawing up
an action plan to achieve the required award.
Councils wanting to use their own action
planning format should do so.
Whichever style of action plan is used it
should identify:
future planned action
when action is expected to be completed
who is responsible for the action
who is responsible for monitoring
implementation of the action plan.
Councils may find it useful to have a team
of people responsible for pulling the action
plan together, such as the all party member
development group, with officer support.
Those responsible for drawing up the
action plan should look at each point on the
guidelines and ‘What this means in practice’
section and ask:
1. What evidence do we have that suggests
we are following good practice?
2. What action do we need to take, if any,
to follow good practice or continuously
improve? (Taking account of any resource
implications and constraints)
3. When will this action be taken by?
4. Who will be responsible for the action?
A named person should be identified as being
responsible for monitoring the action plan.
4 The Member Development Charter Plus: Self-assessment template
Member Development Charter Plus
self-assessment template
Criterion 1. There is a clear commitment to councillor development and support
Elements Requirements for Charter Plus Evidence Action By when By whom
1.1 Political and managerial
leadership is committed
to the development of
councillors
Clear commitment from
political and managerial
leadership to share
development opportunities
across local government
tiers (including with parish
and town councils)
Of a strategic approach
to forward planning of
councillor development
1.2 The council actively
encourages citizenship
and publicises the
role of councillors as
community leaders
as part of promoting
local democracy so as
to encourage under-
represented groups to
become a councillor
The council takes action
to encourage people
to become councillors,
particularly from under-
represented groups and
evaluates the impact and
success of the activities
The council provides
information on the electoral
process
The council builds links
with local businesses and
employers to promote the
role of the councillor
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The Member Development Charter Plus: Self-assessment template
Criterion 1. There is a clear commitment to councillor development and support
Elements Requirements for Charter Plus Evidence Action By when By whom
1.3 The council is committed
to ensuring equal
access to learning and
development for all
councillors
Impact of analysis of
access is monitored,
reviewed and actioned
1.4 The council has a
designated budget for
councillor development
which is adequate to meet
priority development
needs
The budget is properly
reviewed, set and prioritised
by the cross party councillor
development task group
1.5 Designated ofcer/s
of the council have
responsibility for
coordinating councillor
development
Councillor development
and support staff have their
own skills development
programme
Councillor development and
support staff are involved
in regional and national
learning networks to
support CPD
6 The Member Development Charter Plus: Self-assessment template
Criterion 2. The Council has a strategic approach to councillor development
Elements Requirements for Charter Plus Evidence Action By when By whom
2.1 The council has a
councillor development
strategy in place
The cross party member
development task group
leads the evaluation of the
strategy and implements
improvements
2.2 The council has a
structured process for
regularly assessing
councillors’ individual
learning and development
needs based on focused
objectives
All councillors are offered
PDPs and more than half of
councillors take them up
Council has a process for
individual councillor reviews
to reflect on strengths and
support progression
2.3 The various councillor
roles are clearly
dened and outline
how they contribute
to the achievement of
community, political and
council objectives
Role descriptions are used
for the recruitment and
selection of candidates
and to identify and prioritise
development needs
Role descriptions are used to
support succession planning
Evidence that councillors
are clear about:
the role of partner bodies
the role of other
stakeholders
their own role on partner
bodies
their own role in relation
to other stakeholder
bodies
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The Member Development Charter Plus: Self-assessment template
Criterion 2. The Council has a strategic approach to councillor development
Elements Requirements for Charter Plus Evidence Action By when By whom
2.4. The council has a
structured process
for assessing current
and future leadership
and executive team
development needs
Leaders, cabinet
members and chairs have
identified and undertaken
development appropriate
to their responsible area
A programme to develop
the next generation of
leaders is in place as part
of the councils approach
to succession planning
2.5 There is a corporate
councillor development
plan in place
The councillor development
plan clearly prioritises
learning and development
that supports the corporate
objectives
8 The Member Development Charter Plus: Self-assessment template
Criterion 3. Learning and development is effective in building capacity
Elements Requirements for Charter Plus Evidence Action By when By whom
3.1
Investment in learning
and development is
regularly evaluated in
terms of the cost benet
and impact
Evaluation strategy is in
place to analyse the impact
of councillor development
activities
Some form of impact
assessment at the corporate
and community level exists
and is used to evaluate the
impact of development (eg
feedback from partners is
actively sought)
Case studies of how
learning and development
has impacted on individual
and corporate performance
3.2
Learning is shared with
other councillors and
where appropriate, with
ofcers and stakeholders
to encourage capacity
building in the
council and a learning
organisation culture
There is an effective
process in place for
disseminating, sharing and
exchanging knowledge and
learning
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The Member Development Charter Plus: Self-assessment template
Criterion 3. Learning and development is effective in building capacity
Elements Requirements for Charter Plus Evidence Action By when By whom
3.3 The council demonstrates
a commitment to an
effective councillor
learning and
development programme
by implementing
improvements to learning
and development
activities as they are
identied
There are links to an
evaluation strategy
Evaluation outcomes
inform change and drive
continuous improvement
A quality assurance process
is in place
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REF 11.32
© Local Government Association, December 2016